


A Brother's Best Friend

by RandomReader13



Series: Padfoot [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Family Drama (Harry Potter), Family Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Regulus Black Deserves Better, Regulus Black is a Smol Bean, Sirius Black as Padfoot, Sirius Black is a Little Shit, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, its the Blacks what do you expect, who doesn't know how to apologize as a person, who misses his brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomReader13/pseuds/RandomReader13
Summary: Three days since Regulus' brother raised his wand against him for the first time, Regulus makes a furry friend.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Sirius Black
Series: Padfoot [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060997
Comments: 7
Kudos: 141





	A Brother's Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Black Mask](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15457248) by [izzythehutt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzythehutt/pseuds/izzythehutt). 



> It's been five years since I've gone here, what am I doing.  
> Just a little thing I pounded out because my muse is starved and I binged the incredible series The Black Sheep Dog by izzythehut. It took me a week straight and I loved every minute of it and I started having THOUGHTS. Credit for the idea of the Black family breeding their own dogs and Padfoot being that kind of dog goes to them!

Regulus stared across the lake, the pile of notes and quills in his lap rustling in the breeze. His ink had long since dried on the page of his charms essay, his delicate cursive trailing off at the end as his mind wandered. Three days.

Three days since he had last seen Sirius. Three days since Evan had been cut off in the hallway by a dangerously unsmiling James Potter, who loudly inquired if Evan’s father had been charged with being a Death Eater or if he had begged off on some coward’s excuse, holding to his beliefs just long enough for the masks to come off. Three days since Regulus had stepped up beside his friend and leveled his wand at the fifth-year. Three days since he had stared into those brown eyes without fear, because Sirius was right there and Potter wouldn’t dare attack him in front of his brother. Three days since he and Evan had to help each other stumble to the hospital wing, Evan’s face swelling from a stinging hex while Regulus’ legs were firmly locked together. Three days since his brother had raised his wand against him for the first time.

Regulus pulled his legs up to his chest, parchment and books spilling onto the grass, and rested his chin on his knees. If his mother saw such posture she would strap a board to his back, but there was no one around, and Regulus needed to mope. It was foolish, Sirius had left him behind long ago, it shouldn’t feel like this. Regulus shouldn’t care. Sirius had said countless barbed things, designed to dig in and tear. Sirius had left for Hogwarts promising daily letters and all sorts of excitement once Regulus joined him there, and then he had left him behind for a world of red and gold. Sirius had shoved him and dragged him into trouble and blamed mischief on him a thousand times during their childhood. But his brother had never raised a wand on him. Somehow it felt...important. Meaningful. A line that had been crossed that could never be taken back.

Was that how it was going to be from now on? Had they made that final shift from best friends to acquaintances to enemies? Regulus closed his eyes, pressing his forehead into his knees. It had been foolish to hope for reconciliation, a return to how things had once been. Regulus had always known that. So why did he feel like something had reached into his chest and yanked out his innards? Why was there a gaping hole where his heart and lungs should be?

Something cold nudged the back of his hand, and Regulus fell backward with a strangled yelp of surprise. Stupid, letting his guard down, who was it? Had Sirius decided his leg-locking jinx was too nice and come back to finish the job? Had one of his cousins seen him and would report back to his mother?

A massive black dog whined quietly, shrinking away from him, belly close to the ground and ears pinned flat. It’s eyes were big and almost seemed to be apologizing. Regulus’ heartbeat slowly returned to normal as he stared at it. He pushed himself up on his elbows to get a better look and his breath caught in his throat.

It wasn’t just a black dog, it was a _Black_ dog, one of the hounds that the Black family had bred for hundreds of years. Regulus had grown up surrounded by them, and he recognized the flared tail, long legs, and intelligent face.

“Hello,” he said softly, sitting up, adrenaline slowly fading away. “What are you doing here?” Black dogs were never sold out of the family. The only way to get a Black dog was to be born a Black or to become one through marriage. Regulus would be receiving his on his seventeenth birthday, along with the traditional pocket watch. Four more years. It felt like an eternity.

Regulus looked around, anxiety clenching at his stomach again. “Is your master around here somewhere?” He moved to his knees, hastily collecting his school supplies, which had flown every which way. “Do you belong to Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella?” Everyone in their family was good at keeping the family dogs straight, and Regulus could identify most of his close relatives’ by name, but as their breeder and keeper, Uncle Cygnus had so many it was hard to keep track.

The dog padded forward as Regulus fumbled in the grass for his inkwell, pushing his nose into his arm. Regulus paused and smiled a little, giving in to the dog’s hunt for pets and scratching him behind the ears. The dog seemed to smile, his tongue hanging out and his tail slowly picking up speed.

“You’re a good boy,” Regulus said. “I forgive you for startling me.”

At those words the dog gave a joyful bark, twisting away from him to jump excitedly through the grass before coming back and shoving his massive head back into Regulus’ stomach for more pats.

Regulus laughed. “It’s like you can understand me, huh?” He looked around, scanning the small clumps of students he could see in the distance. He had walked all the way around the Great Lake, looking for somewhere quiet to...think. “Where’d you come from, anyway?”

The dog barked again, tugging gently on Regulus’ sleeve until the boy stood up and then bounding off towards the Forbidden Forest.

“Hey, wait!” Regulus yelled, charging after him. The dog was too fast though, and Regulus soon slowed to a halt, panting, as he disappeared from view. “Bollocks,” he muttered, tugging anxiously on the hem of his sleeves. If the dog did belong to Uncle Cygnus, Regulus could be in big trouble for letting him run off. Though why he would have been set loose to run around the school grounds in the first place was a mystery. Perhaps he should seek out the groundskeeper...but no, he had been firmly told to stay away from the half-breed. He was dangerous, as his expulsion nearly 32 years ago had proven. Headmaster Dumbledore was a fool to keep him around children.

But...if he was quick, maybe he could use Hagrid to get the dog back and then return him to his owner without anyone being the wiser? Then again, the dog running off wasn’t his fault, but if he spoke to Hagrid then he really would have broken the rules. Regulus sighed, casting a final glance towards the Forbidden Forest. The giant dog came racing back towards him, a large stick held in his mouth.

Regulus laughed. “Hey there, boy!” he called. It must be a young dog, not fully trained, to run off like that. But he came back, and that meant Regulus didn’t have to worry about losing prized family possessions or speaking to half-breeds.

The dog wasn’t slowing down. Regulus had half a second to suck in a surprised breath and widen his stance before he was bowled over. Despite his bracing, Regulus was flung backward, lying with a hard _oof_ on his back. Black fur filled his mouth and nose, and Regulus struggled to fill his aching lungs with 150 pounds pressing directly on his chest.

“ _G’off_ ,” he managed to gasp, shoving futility at the dog’s chest.

The dog immediately got off and Regulus stared up at the sky, gasping for breath. A whimper broke through the pounding in his ears and the dog meekly licked at his fingers.

Regulus took a deep breath and shoved himself upright, scowling at the dog. “ _Bad dog_ ,” he managed. The dog whimpered again, pressing himself as low to the ground as possible and staring up at him with apologetic eyes. Regulus remained firm for a long few seconds before sighing and patting the dog’s head. “You’re a menace, you know that?”

The dog cautiously wiggled closer to him, keeping low to the ground, and Regulus scratched behind his ears.

They sat in silence together for a few minutes while Regulus got his breath back. His heart was still pounding from running and being tackled, his cheeks flushed. It was...nice. It felt like the days he and Sirius would chase each other around Great Aunt Cassiopeia’s gardens, back before Sirius went to Hogwarts and everything got...complicated. His eye landed on the stick the dog had brought back, and he pushed himself up to his feet and grabbed it.

“You wanna play fetch, boy?” he asked, wiggling the stick in the dog’s direction. The dog jumped to his feet and danced around Regulus, barking excitedly. Regulus put his hands on his hips. “Now don’t go running into me again,” he warned.

The dog flatted his ears and bobbed his head in what almost looked like a nod. Regulus blinked at him. Black dogs were incredibly smart, but there was something different about this one. Maybe Uncle Cygnus had been testing out a new intelligence charm? But no, despite some people’s whispers, the Blacks had never used magic in their breeding. Their dogs were smart and fast and strong because of the skill of their breeders, not because of magic.

Regulus threw the stick as hard as he could and the dog chased after it, bounding over the grass in large strides. It didn’t matter, he decided. The sun was shining, the breeze was warm, and Regulus was tired of having to overthink every move he made and word he said. He was going to play with this dog and not worry about who it belonged to or why it was here. If Uncle Cygnus came to collect him, Regulus would say hello and ask what brought him to Hogwarts. Until then, the dog was bounding back to him, gently placing the stick in his hand. Regulus grasped the rough bark and threw it again.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated!


End file.
